(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Making a living on a small farm!

B

bruster

Member
I'll be expanding my acreage soon by another 12 a. added on to my existing 15, and just wondered how many of you with under 100a. make a living (or know someone that does) with the land as agricultural income. Main crops being?.......
Also, how many of you DON'T depend on chemicals (commercial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides)to to farm
 
Well.....the guy up the road drives a Cadillac just from growing medical marijuana in his basement.
 
to make a small farm successful is for the wife to have a GOOD job off of the farm.
 
Have a neighbor here, however, I think he farms just over 100 acres..

He's in his 80's now.. He and his brother worked the 100 +/- and had a small garden that they sold produce from, and used to sell eggs.

In my years, thats all they ever did was run the farm. I think he's slowing down though, as the 40 he owns next to me he has rented out to another farmer now.

The majority of his equipment is older (60's-70's).. But from what I've saw of it, it is all well maintained. If/when he decides to retire and sell out I hope I'm financially able to buy up some of his stuff.. Would make excellent equipment for a guy like me wanting to farm just a few acres for the fun of it.

Brad
 
I have not heard you comment on those doings in a while. Are they still bothering you? We have a couple around here that go under the guise of a successful business person. If the proper people in the community only knew or maybe they do.
 
Probably the only profitable "crop" for a small farm. But even at that, imagine the cost associated with keeping every burned out hippy off your property....and you thought keeping the neighbors kids from huntin" on your property was job!!
 
well...are you single, married, kids, bills,hillbilly, cityslicker ? are you growing ginsing?
 
All right you jokers! (yeah, I've known some that have preferred home raised MEDICAL Mary Jane!)

I was raised during the 50s and 60s with my dad's armory of chemical warfare that was heavily promoted as "the scientific way" to farm, and the old way of farming 50-75 years before was obsolete.

Just looking to see if anyone farmed this way and was able to make it by finding niche crops
 
I worked with a laborer who also farmed. Some guys in the tavern were talking about marijuana, and Roger said he didn't even know what it looked like. A little while later, one of the guys got him off to the side and gave him an envelope with 20 little seeds in it - said plant these and you'll know what it looks like. He planted them way out in the middle of a cornfield, and forgot about them. About mid August he drove by the field and those plants were towering over the corn, visible to God and everybody. He got nervous, looked the guy up, and said get that stuff out of my field. The guy counted him out $4000 and the next morning it was gone. Roger said it was the best cash crop he ever had, but it's too hard on the nerves.

To the original poster: I'm not endorsing this idea.

Paul
 
Would have to be a specialty/niche market. Something like organic vegetables/fruits. Location is everything. You would need to be relatively close to your market.

Or, you could grow poultry or maybe even hogs. It really doesn't take a whole lot of land to put up a chicken house that will grow thousands of chickens per year. Depending on your location you could also compost the litter and sell to organic farmers.

Have even heard of small dairys that buy all their feed so they don't need the land to grow anything. Doesn't have to be cows, could be goats. Also you could process the milk into a finished product (butter, cheese, etc.) Again, compost and sell the waste.

slim
 
57, Married, kids grown, on disability, raised on a farm of 200 a. own 15a. and acquiring 12 more w/ 3% grade
Hated coming in contact with more chemicals than I can count while farming with my dad
 
My thoughts lean toward an inter-city pick-your-own orchard, since the closest ones are 20-30miles from town
 
Looking at a "Pick-you-own "orchard w/ assorted berries. I live 3 miles from Youngstown, Ohio (in city limits)
 
I read a book I think was something like Sullivan farms (?). They did a specialty veggie operation and marketed to restaurants. Personally I think the key to it was location (very close to major city like NY or Philly). But it was very labor intensive as they literally tended each plant by hand and grew something through most of the year (including winter in greenhouses).
 
Lots of small acreage farmers around 'here', growing vegetables; some are sold locally, but many are trucked hundreds of miles. Not many of 'em are TOTALLY supporting a family without some off-farm income.
 
How close are you to Youngstown?? If you can get the word out, in a large city, I'd think you could make a pretty good go selling freezer pigs and beef.

We are 60 miles from Toledo & Ft Wayne so it's prohibitive, but we do pretty good selling freezer pigs in this area. We are starting to get a name for ourselves so more people are calling us asking for halves. We have friends that raise steers for the freezer, and farm fresh eggs, they seem to be doing well.

This isn't sole income for either of us, but it's a pretty good supplement. I would think with a little shoe leather, you could get a customer base established. I don't know if you'll make enough to pay for more land, but if you are running debt free, I think you can do it.

We don't claim to be organic or pasture raised. We sell as [i:cecdad257c]humanely raised in a straw bedded barn without continous feeding antibiotics and no hormones.[/i:cecdad257c] People are OK with that, but sometimes we have to explain what it means.

Email me if you want, I can give you more details without boring everyone else. freezerpig @ gmail.com

Good luck,

Tim
 
There was a township meeting last night to pass a new ordinance to control them. I didn't go. Knew full well it would be a mud slinging,name calling circus. I've got a meeting today at 3 at the Township Hall,so I'm sure I'll hear all about it.
The State House passed a bill last week that will crack down on them,maybe even eliminate their little "drug gang". I don't know exactly what was in the bill,but I emailed our new State Senator Monday about it. Haven't heard back from her. She's a friend and neighbor who lives just a few miles from me. I told her in the email that she needed to be at the Township Hall for that meeting too,but I don't know if she went. I doubt it,they're in session.
The new Attorney General jumped in to it the other day too. Filed an Appeals Court case against somebody who was caught driving under to influence of his "medicine".
 
I think the proper term for these women with good jobs is "sugar momma". Yes, I do have to agree the only way to farm "halfway" is to have a wife with a good job unless you intend to starve.
 
a truck patch can be a money maker but its labor intensive...we sold our veggies and melons as semi organic...no herbicides or pesticides but we did side dress with chemical fertilizer...our customers were happy anyhow.
just got to be too much for me to handle alone so i went into dozing biz.
 
I read where flowers for flower shops will bring in over 50 grand an acre. Lots of hours of bending. You have to have a flower drying area to get the most from what is grown.

Takes a lot of acres to just crop farm for a living. The 80 acre farm that will make a person some what of a living will be feeding the crops into livestock and poultry. You will also be eating out of what you produce for the most part. Morning coffee at the local coffee shop will be out as well.
It also means that the wife and kids don't get to sleep in and every one has chores and work to do.
Now days to see it done you would have to visit an Amish 80 acre operation.
 
You gotta be my neighbor. That is about the same distance I am from Toledo and Fort Wayne.
 

Guess there is NO hope of a good Govt Bailout for the Working Man...
Just for the ones with questionable business ethics, seems to me...!

Ron.
 
Depends on what you call "a living".
You can grow your own food and and keep a couple cows,some pigs and chickens for your own use is all you want is live and eat.
But IMO if you want more in life than that there's no way you can generate enough cash these day's from farming just 27 acres unless you grow pot.
 
If you are near any kind of metro area or any place with a decent population, I would guess you'd have to be less than hour away, google CSA....Community-supported agriculture. In the right circumstance, it works, I've seen it.
 
I wish it was as simple as passing a new law here. These guys are suspected of being into more serious things than pot. I've got a feeling this is going to go on for quite some time unless something like a murder investigation shakes things up.
 
Started selling a few extra pumkins out of the gardern about in 1977 out front of my house. Now I plant about 4 acres of them. I have a stand out front now in the fall and sell pumpkins, corn stalk buddles, straw, Indain corn, guords and squash. I also give hay rides on a wagon pulled by my Super C. I drive them buy my steer lot and usually sell a couple of sides of beef as a result. I also feed out about ten steers a year and sell to private people for freezer beef. Not organic but the next thing to it is my claim. I also sell 25# bags of corn, straw and hay off a wagon out front,self serve, year round. I'm not getting rich but it sure helped out when my four kids were growing up and is now keeping me busy in my retirement years. I did have a real job too driving truck 60hrs a week.
 
27 acres, you will need to diversify.
sell broiler chickens, hundreds of them, grow vegetables and fruits and sell at a stand or farmers market. Raise chickens and sell eggs(hard to make money but you can eat the eggs also) as mentioned selling some freezer pork would be nice for you. Whole hog sausage in pound packages or sides and halves. Line up buyers, grass fed beef is picking up steam, but you'll need pasture and hay. I wouldnt worry about growing corn and soybeans I'll tell you that, divide it between pasture, hay, and vegetables, sell quality meats and you might get there.
 
As to people that have done it or do it, absolutely. As to me doing it and without fertilizers, not a chance. We only have 4 things to market; the production from land, labor, capital, and management. If one has limited land then one needs to put in more labor, capital, and or management. Lastly there is the variable of standard of living. Some people call a living 18K take home a year, and some call it 5 times that.

As to my actual observations... dairy, asparagus, feeder cattle, and flowers/herbs. I know a few dairymen who have small acreages, use them mostly for a place for the cows to stand and the milking infrastructure. They depend on rented or share cropped land for corn silage and hay with their concentrates purchased. There are a few asparagus growers in this area with 4-5 acres plus a few other annual garden type crops to direct market in the summer and fall.

With anything niche marketed its important to line up markets ahead of time. I'd hate to have 5 or 10 acres of specialty stuff coming in and it not have a home.
 
It's been nothing short of a miracle that there hasn't been one here. These idiots just don't know when to shut up and keep their heads down.
Didn't help that we had a State Representative in office for two years who had helped them get established in the first place.
 
Ive done it on 10 acres ,BUT and this is a huge thing to consider,WHAT exactly do you call living?I sold chickens,eggs,raised everything we ate except milk( because I couldnt keep a cow), sold vegetables and eggs on a regular route,worked almost every day from daylight to dark ,been to a movie maybe three times in my life,kids did NO outside activities because I needed them at home,wife canned enough to feed us over the winter..etc etc etc.MY most profitable year was $682 dollars cash money above what we used ourselves(profit).IF i considered the time and wage in this,I MAY have paid myself two cents an hour MAYBE.TODAY, you may do better simply because of the high cost of so called organic vegetables,and you could maybe get a deal to suppy resturants around you.IF and I assure you I wouldnt want to,i were to do this again,I would contact say del monte or one of the other canning companies and try to get a contract for growing say X number of acres of green beans ,peas, etc. its a pain from what I understand ,but it may be more of a steady more profitable income.
 
heres something to consider in all this,and what a lot of people dont figure in as part of "making a living".What if you did simply grow nothing else than what you and your family used each year in groceries?one large steer,all your produce, chicken,maybe a hog.supplying your self with simply groceries is a large part of your budget ,and anything saved is profit.pure direct profit that you pay no taxes or anything else on. the simple fact that you dont pay those taxes to the store,or gov makes every thing you grow for you own use worth probably 25% or more in your pocket, than if you went to town and bought them.
 
Not been over that way in a long time. I lived just a few miles from you probly a bunch of years back.
Ever hear of Paul Mitchel? Next door to the west of him and he later bought the farm where I lived.

Would drive over to the edge of Evensport to get ice cream in the evening where someone had a shop in his front yard. I am thinking 1961 or maybe 1962.

There ya go. That is one way of making a living on small acreage
 
Around here, those men are known as "Go Getters".......when his wife gets off from work, he'll go git'er.
 
When I was a kid, our regular Friday night thing was to go to Sigg's Auction in Evansport. If it got over early enough, we'd drive up the road and get ice cream.

My mom grew up just north of Edgerton, I have lots of kin over in your neck of the woods.

Now, I'll let this thread get back on track.

Tim
 
Seriously though,medical marijuana aside,after reading everything below,I haven't seen any mention of a green house operation. It would give you a lot longer growing season,more variety of crops,easier to control pests without chemicals.
If I was really serious about it,I'd contact the County Agent about that type operation,or some horticultural society. Any time I've seen that type of operation featured on any of the ag shows,they seem to be doing VERY well for themselves.
 
you hit the nail on the head here, its not just about making money, its eleminating the need to spend it or give it to others in the form of taxes.
 
Subsistence ag used to work a lot better than it does now. Food used to be a much larger portion of the budget than it is now- I think we're down to about 15% of income spent on food now, on average.

The difference? Taxes, transportation and medical care. Folks used to take a chicken and some vegetables along to the doc's office to pay for office visit- you can imagine how that would go over now! They'd be yelling "Security!"

Taxes were very low, and transportation was either by horse, so you "grew" your own fuel, or by car at two bits a gallon.

Inflation has simply made that way of life impossible, IMHO.
 
(quoted from post at 11:16:04 03/09/11) Looking at a "Pick-you-own "orchard w/ assorted berries. I live 3 miles from Youngstown, Ohio (in city limits)
Click to expand...

Brave man to consider this in the crime capital of the East.

With the proximity to Youngstown you could do well with a niche farmers market type set up. Especially if you are close to one of the more affluent parts of town(South Side Suburbs). Otherwise you are going to have to accept food stamps and grow weed.

I didn't realize there was any tillable land left inside the city.
 
I have been growing vegetables on about 5 acres for awhile now without pesticides and herbicides. I use about $200 of commercial fertilizer to supplement the manure I spread. To control bugs and weeds I leave areas fallow from year to year. I have a ton of equipment to use and it all helps save time, which is my biggest problem right now. I am trying to stay away from hiring help, just because of the hassle. I also do quite a bit of custom tractor work in the area, which helps alot. My wife quit her job last fall, so we are living off the land now. We have no debt, but with high property taxes, medical insurance and fuel costs it could be an interesting venture. I don't think I will have to worry about income taxes!
 
My ex-govenor and one-time presidential candidate, Mike Dukakis, said there was money in Belgium endive. I tried it and all I got was indigestion.
 
That may be alright if you were retired, but most people need a steady income coming in every week. With gas and fuel oil approaching $4.00 a gallon I don't think your operation would be making any great amount of money. You need equipment even for a small operation and sometime down the road you may have kids wanting to go to college. You may want to retire someday. I would get a full time job. Hal
 
You probably could, but you have to diversify. You may have to sell veggies, veggie plants maybe flowers, hanging baskest, a u pick thing, mums, pumpkins cornstalks, straw ect, maybe hay rides in the fall. And then theres the animal side of it. Chickens, and eggs, maybe a bakery. cows, pigs, ect ect. Maybe sell firewood, I dont know if you can tap maple trees in Ohio. You just have to find a nitch Best of luck to I hope you can make it.
 
Forgot to add, you could buy cut Christmas trees and sell them , along with makeing wreaths. There good money in that around here.
 
Just think of how good a living we all could have if we didn't have to pay taxes or insurance.

The rates of these was alot lower in the past and you could make money and keep more of it to do with what YOU wanted.
 
not impossible by any means,grow your own has nothing to do with inflation IN fact it makes even more sense in times of inflation,higher taxes,etc.Lets see,on a hundred acres I could bottle feed a couple of calves ,hold them year round on grass .Have them butchered and cost almost nothing.( grass fed of course)if I go to the grocer it will cost me 5-6 dollars a pound for steaks,and that same steak will cost $15 at a resturant.why not keep that money in my pocket?its nothing to spend $100 at the grocery store and not have a full basket.why not keep that money also?old saying goes.."fastest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket"..never is truer than when money is tight and times are rough.yes we spend less money percentage wise on groceries now,even though they are higher cost wise.but we also are making FAR AND AWAY more money than we used to per capita,and every thing is higher.lets see, I can raise a steer up to 800 lbs and get on a good day $1.45 a pound for it,then go directly from the sale barn to the store and spend from $3-$8 a pound to buy it back in a pretty wrapper..why didnt I just transfer that money from my personal account over to my farm account without any hassle and show more of a profit myself?its worth just as much in my belly as it is in yours.And I can save from 1-5 dollars a pound to boot.To your way of thinking does it make more sense to spend even 15% of your money on groceries than it does The 1-2% you would spend if you only bought staples?what you are saying basically is that crops are worth more than finished products?dont think so ,unless lots of folks in this world are losing money.perhaps you are talking about the costs of raising the crops doesnt make it profitable with gas so high and things.well if that were true you better be praying, because every farmer in the world will be out of buisness this fall. and again you better be holding on to what you have. feeding your self and yours is always first,after that then you become profitable,wheather You grow your food,I do,Or a little old lady in mexico does.
 
At the bookstore last weekend I happened to pick up "Urban Farmer" or some similar name, magazine. They had an article about a couple "farming" 1/10th acre in the city. Said they worked with their neighbor so they had maybe 1/2 acre but were selling to local restaurants etc.
The thing I remember is they said they built a greenhouse so they could have early tomatoes and restaurants were paying up to ~$7/lb for early tomatoes. THATs what you need to be doing, organic high end stuff. You can't possibly make a living selling to the Wal-Mart crowd...
 
heres the thing,if you could grow one acre of wheat and make a profit, then simply multiply that by 100 and you would have that much more profit. if you can grow 1000 acres of wheat and be profitable ,then yes you could make the same amount of money PER ACRE on 100 acres. could you retire on that profit?Probably not,,, could you buy all new equipment and do it DEFENITLY not.the true and honest fact is ,if your not utilizing it in some way,your already losing money.100 acres or 10,000 done correctly you can make money,its simply a matter of degree.
 
"agri-tainment"..."pick your own", parties, hayrides, etc. Grow and raise enough to create a destination and experience for those who can't do it for themselves.

Only works if you're a people person, though. You'll meet plenty of kids and soccer moms
 
Depends on where you live and what type of soil you have. Ever notice tomatoes in the store for a $1.00 a pound? You can raise a lot of tomatoes, about 2500 plants on an acre. Melons can be profitable on small acerage. It is best if you live along a buzy road and can sell directly to the end customer, cuts out the middle man.
Strawberries can be profitable but are very labor intensive. You have to be careful with libality problems with u pick operations.
The problem with these crops is they are very seasonal and some years the weather wipes you out.
I'd recommend doing it as a second or hobby business.
I don't know anything about it but chickens can be raised on very limited agerage. But, you have all of the up-front costs of barns, etc. I think the processers pay you a fixes amount per bird.

You also might look into Organic, it commands a premium price and most large or even medium acerage farmers don't want to bother with it. You have to figure out where to sell it and all of the "rules" of being organic to obtain your premium price.

Hope this gives you some ideas.
 
Wasn't there some chatter a few month ago about SB580 that was going to put restrictions on farmers selling their produce? Not sure what happened. Does anyone know? I could have my facts wrong.
 
One of my cousins has made his living for many years by raising tomatoes in his large greenhouses. He only has about 5 acres, and does use some chemicals in the greenhouses. Over the years he has built a really good reputation for a super high quality product, and can sell every tomato he can grow. The way my cousin grows tomatoes, he does almost all the labor himself, so he seldom has to hire any help. He works very hard, and is sure not getting rich, but he is making it.

My cousin was lucky enough to have found a niche market and figured out how to produce extremely high quality, high value product relatively inexpensively. But it didn't happen over night and he has worked extremely hard to develop and maintain the business. Would a similar business work where you are? I don't know...good luck!
 
The you-pic-it thing sounds good in theory but is HARD to work(BTDT).
1-you gonna have people that are gonna break down your vines and plants, Pick the best and destroy the rest.
2-some big overweight clumsey slob is gonna stumble over a dirt clod and sprain or break an ankle, and it will take $300,000 of your money to get them well.( or they will be stung by a bee or wasp with the same effect.)
3-you gonna have people who scope out your place in the daytime while they are picking, and return at night to help themselves to your stuff,(whatever is in your sheds, your mach. equip. etc.)

You have a noble idea but do lots of homework before you leap.
1- try to grow a crop that is in demand
2- grow a crop that will bring big money
3- grow a crop that has a very long growing season
4- anything you grow is gonna be VERRRRRY labor
intensive, and time consuming.

good luck, Norris
 
yes,,check carefully if you intend to sell ANYTHING direct to public.Some states already have laws prohibiting this .some require license ,bonding,special insurance etc.the new laws proposed ,its my understanding,would make it illegal to even give produce away.
 
If you are following some sort of organic rules or grass fed regimen then make sure you price it properly, not to compete with Wal Mart.

I would diversify.
Gardening, maybe a berry patch of some sort (pick your own will require a close realtionship with your insurance agent...)
A few head of grass fed beefers rotationally grazed with meat chickens and layers in tractors following them on the pastures.

I heard this the other day at a grazers conference and it makes a lot sense...
Instead of looking for the "silver bullet" we need to look for "silver buckshot".
 
I heard of a guy that got in trouble because he was selling produce along the road and his scales were not inspected for accuracy.

So much for trying to make a living on a small farm:)
 
That seems to be such a load of crap! Like WHO are the laws protecting?? Just seems like a BIG BROTHER / More money for the state or local government.....or feds, kind of thinking.
...........................pretty sad anymore!
 
One of the last large privet sections left!
I work a big 20 a. field in back of me and the wife's sister owns half
The lot next to me, and has good fall, wind protection and the soil is good loam
I have a double barrel protection system that has worked well.
You live close by?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
You have a new JD convert. I'm gonna need some on-going advice
2 3
Replies
41
Views
2K
Poppy Johnny
Poppy Johnny
crsutton81
A few random pictures
Replies
17
Views
2K
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse
L
Equipment decisions for our farm
2
Replies
22
Views
798
ss55
S
C
Plowing pictures, and today's methods
2
Replies
36
Views
1K
Texasmark1
T
T
Buying Land-Advice?
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
MarkB_MI
MarkB_MI
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top